Night temperature stays above freezing point at most places in Kashmir

Srinagar: The minimum temperature rose and stayed above the freezing point at most places in Kashmir owing to a cloud cover as the weather is expected to remain dry over the next week, officials said here on Saturday.

The night temperature rose at several places in the Valley with Gulmarg and Pahalgam being the only weather stations where the mercury settled below the freezing point on Friday night, they said.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, was 4.8 degrees Celsius, marginally up from the previous night's 4.5 degrees Celsius, the officials said.

Qazigund recorded a low of 3.4 degrees Celsius, up from 2.2 degrees Celsius the previous night, they said. Kokernag town in south Kashmir registered a minimum of 2.2 degrees Celsius, while Kupwara, in the north, recorded a low of 2.3 degrees Celsius.

Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, while the mercury in Gulmarg settled at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius, the officials added.

The three-week dry spell in Kashmir ended on Thursday with snowfall in the middle and higher reaches of the Valley and rains in the plains.

The intermittent snowfall continued at some places, like Sonamarg in central Kashmir, on Friday morning as well.

The Met office said the weather would remain partly to generally cloudy, but mainly dry till December 10.